Terrebonne registrar retiring

Terrebonne Parish will be getting a new registrar of voters, with the announcement that the woman who has overseen all aspects of elections is retiring next month.

Linda K. Rodrigue, who has served as the Terrebonne Parish Registrar of Voters since 1989, confirmed Thursday that she is leaving her post, and that her first official day of retirement will be Feb. 17, Mardi Gras Day.

“It’s going to go on with or without me, life goes on,” Rodrigue said in an interview. “I am going to miss it, I am going to miss the staff, all the people we help, and all of the people I talk to around election time.”

Rodrigue began working as a deputy registrar on March 17, 1979 under Registrar Peggy Henry.

She was recommended for the top spot when Henry left the post, and took office as Registrar Aug. 1, 1989. She supervises a staff of five.

Rodrigue notified Parish Council members earlier this month of her decision to retire; she will recommend a successor but the Parish Council will follow its own process for selecting a new Registrar. The matter has not yet come up before the Council; Rodrigue said she will not disclose her own recommendation at this time.

“They will consider anyone who applies and pick the best person for the position,” she said.

During her time as Registrar, Rodrigue has shepherded many changes in how her office operates.

Most recently was a move from the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse Annex to bigger space on the first floor of the parish’s Government Tower at Main and Barrow streets.

Expansion of early voting – once limited to absentees – was another change that Rodrigue said made a big difference in the responsibilities of her staff. New rules that allow voters over 65 to request mail ballots have also made for shifts in the workload.

Rodrigue’s retirement is elective.

“It’s just a date I came up with,” she said. “I am trying to get out early in the year and give a new registrar time to get settled.”

Rodrigue has not yet made firm plans for how her retirement time will be spent.

“I don’t know what it’s like not to work,” she said. “But hopefully I’ll take a few trips, and have time to do things with the grandkids.”